00:00I think Don Julio is so special because it really captures raw emotion, the raw, intrusive
00:07thoughts that a lot of us women have when it comes to our significant others.
00:11We get really crazy, really possessive.
00:13This song is the embodiment of that, so it's just me, super aggressive in the studio, super
00:18just like, you better not be fucking with no hoes, or else I'm on your ass.
00:22At the beginning of working on Don Julio, I was just kind of in the studio trying to
00:33catch a vibe.
00:34I had some Don Julio in front of me.
00:36I was super turnt up, super lit.
00:37I think I had called my man and he didn't answer, and so immediately my mind just got
00:42to racing.
00:43And instead of just projecting and texting him something crazy and crashing out, I was
00:48just like, fuck it, I'm going to channel this into my music, and Don Julio was born.
00:59I think this generation, we really have deeply rooted trust issues.
01:05The stuff that we see on social media is insane and it really gets hardwired into your body
01:10and you start to look at your significant other really crazy, like, what you got going
01:14on?
01:15I was out of town, he was out of town.
01:16I was just like, what the hell are you doing?
01:18I'm calling you.
01:19Bitch, don't let me find out you with a groupie hoe.
01:21You're going to be with Tupac when I come shoot up that studio, nigga.
01:25There's a studio in New York called Quad.
01:28And every time you go to Quad, there's an intern, there's somebody walking you up.
01:31They give you the whole spiel about Tupac being shot in the elevator at that studio.
01:36So it was like something that I was thinking about, and then my man is a recording artist.
01:41So I was just like, I'm going to send you to meet Tupac if I find out that you're doing
01:45something other than what you said you were doing.
01:47But it wasn't a diss to Tupac.
01:49I want to make that overly clear.
01:51I'm a really big Tupac fan.
01:52I'm actually very inspired by Tupac.
01:54I love his duality.
01:55I love that he was a very complex, smart artist.
01:59And then he also made really crazy, aggressive diss songs that were so direct.
02:03I feel like he spoke a lot of his impulsive thoughts as well, so I feel like we really
02:06relate on that level.
02:08So I have a deep love and passion and admiration for Tupac, so I feel like people were misconstruing
02:13that line.
02:14I feel like Tupac would have loved Don Julio, too, by the way.
02:17I feel like if he heard Don Julio, and now he probably has, I feel like he appreciates it.
02:28I am definitely not a morning person.
02:31I definitely wake up on a shitty vibe.
02:33Mornings are just not my thing.
02:35I like to stay up late.
02:36That's when I feel like I'm the most creative.
02:37So having to get up early to catch early flights, red eyes, it's just like, ugh, my team knows.
02:43They really have to drag me out of the bed.
02:45Bitches say, they looking for me.
02:47What?
02:48I say, who, Leo?
02:49I'm a person that really remixes average things to apply to me.
02:55So if I'm listening to someone's song, I'll implement my own name or I'll switch the lyrics
03:00around really quickly.
03:01And I almost do it for fun, like for sport.
03:03They can play a song and I'll just be rapping it, and by the time the next line is coming,
03:08I'm switching it to really relate to my life.
03:11And I don't know if that's because of my influences.
03:13I don't know.
03:14I feel like I'm heavily influenced by Lil Wayne.
03:15So I feel like that is something that Lil Wayne would do and say.
03:18Not even intentionally, but it's just like when you play with words 24-7 and when you
03:23spin and flip and twist things for a living, for a profession, it's just like it becomes
03:27very natural to you.
03:35I really, really, really get on that tip when I feel like I'm being tried, when I feel like
03:40I'm being disrespected by anybody.
03:43There is this switch that is flipped inside of me.
03:46Who the fuck are you talking to?
03:48It's just like a switch.
03:49I just turn into a completely different person.
03:52I'm thankful for that side of me because it has really protected me in situations where
03:55I otherwise would have let a lot of disrespect slide.
03:58So that was just like a form of dominance.
04:00Like shit, not me.
04:01I just want the green, not broccoli.
04:04If you got money, then you got me.
04:07My money motivation is just simply I want to be financially free.
04:12I want to be able to sustain myself.
04:14I'm not very material based.
04:16The money comes in when I want to really splurge on my family and the people around me and
04:21give them experiences that they otherwise would have probably never experienced.
04:25Being able to be a big dreamer and being able to really act on a lot of these dreams and
04:30feelings that I have and to be able to turn that into something lucrative is super cool.
04:35And to be able to pour into the people that I love is the coolest part about that.
04:38So that is my money motivation.
04:49Maintaining my independence has been so important to me.
04:52In the beginning of my rap career journey, I used to sit down at a lot of label meetings
04:57and I felt like I was in a twilight zone.
05:00They all gave me the same spiel.
05:02It was just all like, oh, we heard your music.
05:04We really like you.
05:05We want to sign you for $100,000 and five albums, six albums, seven albums.
05:10It was insane.
05:11It was a slave deal.
05:12The more I sat in these meetings, the more I'm just like, man, I don't have any leverage.
05:17I do feel like some of these labels are predatory and they do prey on people who are in very
05:22difficult situations and people who are praying for a way out.
05:26I was in that situation, but I'm so glad that I was able to figure out how to fund my movement
05:32independently and go and get distribution and hire my own team.
05:36I'm glad that I was able to do that.
05:38Not that I'm feeling like I'm better than anybody or feeling like I have to boast and
05:42promote that I'm independent, but I just want to talk to the younger black girls that look
05:45like me that want to pursue a music career and let them know why it's important to maintain
05:50your masters and maintain your independence for as long as you can.
05:53Even if you do sign to a major label, making sure that anything that you've done before
05:56signing to that major label still belongs to you.
05:58Bitch, don't get involved because you're not going to like the outcome.
06:01I told him I could never love a nigga.
06:03He say, how come?
06:04Maybe because I'm super rich with and without one.
06:06He tender.
06:07He ain't know he had a match till he found one.
06:09The type of music that I make is a cross between hyper feminine and feminine rage.
06:15A lot of the music that I make is solely based on just being a girl, but it's also that feminine
06:21rage that rebels against anything that places women into a box.
06:26It's important to have your own finances, have your own funds, have your own motion,
06:32have your own things going outside of whatever relationship that you're in because I feel
06:36like a lot of people get lost and they get tied up.
06:38At the end of the relationship, you have nothing left of yourself and you look back and you're
06:42just like, damn, what happened to me?
06:45You have to spend time rebuilding yourself as opposed to already coming into a situation
06:50built up, equipped, ready, strong, emotionally, physically, financially, spiritually, like
06:56really having all those facets of your life in order before you decide to pursue a partner.
07:03That's pretty much what I was saying.
07:10I was just kidding.
07:11I was just joking.
07:13Just a little jokey joke.
07:14Just a little fun banter.
07:17I'm obviously not going to cheat on my man.
07:19If he does not wake me up to fellatio, obviously it's ideal, it's preferred, but I can go a
07:25few more minutes without that.
07:26It's fine.
07:32He's a real pleaser.
07:34He's really good.
07:35He's really skilled at what he does and he goes out of his way to make sure that I am
07:42satisfied.
07:43That's what I meant.
07:49If I come over late at night, bitch, I ain't doing no sleeping.
07:52He got a real good mouthpiece, but he ain't doing no preaching.
07:55It's just more so leading into that peace talk.
07:58It's just like, cool, we can have relations and then by the next day, I'm back in motion.
08:02I'm back doing my own thing.
08:03This was not a significant thing and I want more women to be like that because I feel
08:08like us as women, we get really invested emotionally and I think you should definitely be selective
08:13with who you share your body with.
08:16I want women to be able to detach a little bit more easily.
08:19Listen, we can have a good encounter.
08:20We can have a great encounter and I still have to go about my day.
08:24I still have things that I need to take care of so the next day, we just might not speak
08:28to each other and you have to be okay with that.
08:32I've mastered being able to translate my aggression into something that people can relate to.
08:38I'm kind of like the voice for the people.
08:41I say what a lot of people are thinking but don't have the confidence to say.
08:45It gets me in trouble a lot.
08:46Y'all don't even see.
08:47Y'all don't even know.
08:48I really be having to pay for a lot of the shit that I say but it's okay because as long
08:53as people understand me and they feel where I'm coming from, I feel like I'm doing my job.
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